Add that to our DIY list

You can imagine the excitement in the Bower household when we found out we were chosen to participate in the True Value Blogsquad for a second year in a row!  Yeah. It was the same exact response that we would have if someone told us we won the lottery.  without even buying a ticket.  and for eating slews of bacon.

And now that the high fives and kissing and hyperventilating (not to mention the air guitar playing and the Rocky-style jogging in place with fist pumps) is over, I am so excited to share the news with you. 

So here’s the deal: we were chosen by the fine folks at True Value to partner with other prestigious DIY bloggers to form a group of project-tacklers.  This group will be known as the DIY Blog Squad.  And honestly I can’t believe little guys like us were even considered to be associated with some of these big dogs.  Wanna meet em?  Let me have the honor of introducing you to the other members of the 2010 Blogsquad:

Josh with Bungalow 23

Brian & Paul with The Handyguys Podcast

Layla & Kevin with The Lettered Cottage

Kate with Centsational Girl

Gabrielle with DesignMom

Kit with DIY Diva

Joey and Lana with Joey and Lana Make a House a Home

Roeshel with The DIY Show Off

and last but not least, my girl Sarah with ThriftyDecorChick

 

But the coolness doesn’t stop with just being part of a pretty darn rad band of DIYers.  Nope.  It gets better.  True Value has given us a big ole chunk of dough ($1000 bucks to be exact) to use in their stores to do what we love…take on home improvement projects.  And we will be coming back to share with you the progress of our projects.  PLUS we will be partnering with a Master of All Things Hardwarian to help share some insight on the True Value website – www.Startrightstarthere.com which by the way has a slew of information already that you definitely want to check out.   

Oh and the fun doesn’t stop there.  We also will be hosting an answer-your-questions-in-real-time event on Facebook.  We will be hosting reader challenges and giveaways and reviewing True Value products.  Oh and let’s not forget about jokes about bacon.  

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s introduce ourselves (for those of you who are new or relatively unaware what we do round these parts.)

We are the Bowers.      

I’m Katie (the one on the left with the big head) and that’s Jeremy.  We are married even though I still call him my boyfriend.  A little over five years ago he followed me down here to Georgia from a blind date in Tennessee and I haven’t been able to shake him yet.  Believe me, I tried for a while before finally giving in to his awesomeness.  Then three years ago we bought this 1970’s house together and have been tearing down panelled walls, tiling, painting and fixing it up since day one.  Literally we got the keys and that afternoon whipped out the sawzall.  This past April we added to our DIY crew with the arrival of our little boy Will.  He’s in what we call ‘hard-hat training’.  Since we live with a single income, we try to make sure we are living economically and making the right decisions on our home improvements (hey, it is our biggest investment, right?!).  And we chronicle our adventures in life here at Bower Power.      

Last year when we tackled our home improvement projects I was in my second trimester, working at a 9 to 5 job and preparing for a bambino.  Needless to say, our True Value to-do list was a little bit random.  Here’s what we did (you can click on the links to get the full write-up):

• we revamped a cedar wardrobe for Will’s nursery 

 

• we prepped the yard (and our little old lady neighbor’s) for winter by weedwacking

• we removed the paint off our exterior brick

• we changed out the hardware on our first floor

• we installed fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors

• we painted the railings on our stairway

•  we drylocked our leaky basement

• we tiled our unfinished laundry room floor

And then I got hugely pregnant and traded in my home improvement googles for a body pillow and some carbs till Will arrived.  Well, that stored up energy is now dying to get out.  And since I quit my job back in February and a little more home-time on my hands, I have bigger dreams for this year of DIY projects (more on that later!).

So now that you know what is on the docket for us rednecks, I’d love to hear what you would do in your home if you had a thousand big ones?  Also, my dear friends, I hope you subscribe to all the other blogsquaders – because I am sure that they are gonna have some fabulous projects up their DIY sleeves.  Now off to boogey down with my little boy in celebration…Yeehaw!   

 “I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.”